An old woman dressed in rags who appears in the forest when Leonardo and the Bride elope. In his stage note, Lorca writes that the “beggar woman” is death itself. Unsurprisingly, then, she eagerly awaits Leonardo and the Bridegroom’s deaths, predicting that blood will be spilled in a nearby stream, which she says Leonardo and the Bride will not be able to cross. After her prediction comes true and Leonardo and the Bridegroom kill each other, the beggar woman visits the Bridegroom’s house and tells the three little girls waiting there what has happened.
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Beggar Woman (Death) Character Timeline in Blood Wedding
The timeline below shows where the character Beggar Woman (Death) appears in Blood Wedding. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act Three, Scene One
When the moon slinks back into the trees, an elderly beggar woman appears. (“She is Death,” García Lorca confirms in his stage note.) Also speaking in verse,...
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The beggar woman lets out a cry, which the Bridegroom and his helper hear. “This is a hunt,”...
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...blue light” all over the forest. Then, “two long, piercing screams” sound out, and the beggar woman comes out and “stands with her back to the audience,” opening her ragged cloak “like...
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Act Three, Scene Two
...what might have happened in the woods. When they leave several moments later, the old beggar woman appears at the door and asks for bread, and one of the little girls asks...
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